Environmental Actions?

This is my post to participate in Blog Action Day. I just wonder how it is that a position a vast majority of people accept can be completely sidelined? Future generations will not forgive us for what we've done so far and they won't understand why we who lived through these times didn't do more. Actually, they will understand because selfishness and shortsightedness are timeless and they will indict us for our flaws. Writing about this in a blog no one reads won't solve the problem, we must all work to do our part to decrease our carbon footprint and vote our consciences on this issue.

If the bus is headed in the wrong direction, it's the fault of the passengers

I guess leadership includes haranguing those who aren't following, which at this point is almost everyone. I think the first part I disagree with is the 'solid economy'. For most people this economy is built on sand, if anything happens and they lose their jobs or get sick they are looking at a very difficult future where they can't get back to where they started from. Sure, the yuppies in the major cities will find something even if it's not as good, but those people living in the small town Midwest don't have as many options. Jobs are moving towards the cities, and people are moving with them. Even for those of us who live in the city watching our coworkers get laid off and new projects getting outsourced to Viet Nam, Thailand, and China makes us think twice. Sometimes people cry xenophobia when you mention this, but it's not true. I have lived in these places and I am not afraid of these people or their culture. A lot uncertainty exists today for people who have to work for a living. But those people who live off their dividends benefit greatly from the decreased cost and in fact have never done better. So the economy is great for the top 1%, but for the rest of us, not so much. I guess W's idea of leadership is 'The rich are doing great, and if you're not happy for them you're a weenie who doesn't believe in free markets". Is it any wonder that people ignore him?

I, for one, welcome our new economic overlords

I guess that the Republicans thought that the Chinese would be our major competitors in the 21st century. Remember when they sent a spy plane to provoke an international incident? When they were forced to realign their priorities and started borrowing money like mad, who did they borrow it from? That's right, the Chinese. Now that they have a ton of our money they're going to start throwing it around. It's a little tough for us to throw our weight around diplomatically with our number one creditor. We cannot sustain a trade deficit forever. The deficit can be fixed or neutralized so it's not a problem, I just don't think the current powers that be capable of the finesse that requires.

gPhone Coming Soon?

It looks like Google is diligently doing it's part to change the cell phone business completely. Yes, Apple's iPhone has a ground breaking interface, but it's the same business model. Google might take things in an exciting and totally new direction.

Roger Ebert Blogging

This is a photo of Mr. Ebert and his wife Chaz while he was on stage accepting an award acknowledging his contributions to the film industry. I was sitting pretty far away, as you can see. Good thing they had him on the big screen or you wouldn't know it was him. We should acknowledge his courage dealing with his illness, too. It's not easy for anyone and he's really shown a lot of class. Thanks for showing us how it's done.

Film Review: Sankara

Last night a friend and I saw the film Sankara at the Chicago International Film Festival. I thought the description of the film opened up a lot of possibilities for intrigue and moral conflict. Especially a monk tempted by the pleasures of the flesh while restoring a Buddhist morality tale in a mural about the self destruction inherent in the ephemera of sensuality. It started off as you'd expect, and then became really sensual. The sound really highlighted the tactile senses through the pouring a water (a symbol of life, love, and regeneration), the sound of fingers on a rough wall, or an extreme close up of sweat on skin. I thought they could have thrown some food for the smell and some music, too, but in the beginning I had a lot of hope that we would see something rich and strange. Unfortunately, the movie went no further in sensuality, conflict, or in any direction at all. There was no plot and no intrigue.

For conflict to exist in some kind of interpersonal intrigue there must be dialog. No conversation took place in this film and no relationships unfolded; people just spoke off camera or said their piece to lecture us all. The lack of movement kept on and on and on and I got really bored. I did not hate this movie, but I wish I had instead taken a chance on a different film. Give this one a miss and try another one.

Unnecessary Roughness

What do you do with people who use abuse as a strategy in life? I encountered it often working in the financial markets and saw it again the other day when I was doing my errands and I was surprised to get treated that way by someone who I had never met. I was trying to have a phone conversation about business and he edged up to an inch away from dropping the F-bomb before I had said a word to him. From my perspective it was totally uncalled for and inappropriate. It's hard to talk to people like that and bring them back from the brink. Usually people train staff to handle customers, but that requires some loss of control, and some find it impossible to give up any control at all.

Self righteous indignation and self aggrandizement poses an attractive nuisance to us all, me included. But while everyone is susceptible, I have found that people who are in fields where they make a lot of money particularly so. Some of those outwardly successful people did it to salve their ego by making a lot of money. Some people just can't get along with others, others like to boss people around.

As a teenager dreams of being a star after walking out of a room of people who just weren't impressed enough, people want people to value them according to their need even if that means grabbing them by the collar, shaking them up, and taking from them the respect they did not give. One way is stunning people by being famous, beautiful, or rich. That's not going to work all the time, but it will work enough that you won't care when it fails.

From my experience with very, very wealthy people I have found that even after some of them made a lot of money it didn't help. After you pay your bills having lots of money is just an idea in your head but that doesn't change how small you feel. For that you need people around you to change their behavior, and not everyone is impressed by a lot of money. You can either stun them with your flash (which unfortunately requires spending) or take control of something they need. "I own it. I am the boss. I am in charge."

I don't mean to insult people who go out and make a living on their own or start a business. Lots of very talented people work very hard to build their business from scratch. There are jerks everywhere, but a certain kind needs to run their own business.